I recently passed the BSCI test on the CCNP track. I have been meaning to write my observations, so here they are. Where I have the Cisco Document ID I will provide it, otherwise I will just provide the document title.

Cisco Press Books:Official Exam Certification Guide
Fourth Edition, by Stewart and Gough
My thoughts: I read this book from cover to cover and continue to use it as a reference book. The topic coverage is more appropriate for someone who has some hands on experience with most of the protocols. I felt like it hit the meat of each topic but did not cover them as in depth as I wanted. It comes with a CD-Rom and book on PDF which is nice, because I keep a copy on my computer at work for reference.

Authorized Self-Study Guide
Building Scalable Cisco Internetworks (BSCI)
Third Edition, by Teare and Paquet
My thoughts: I read this book from cover to cover but do not use it much in my daily work, it takes too much time to explain a topic. This is the best book if you do not have hands on experience with all of the protocols. For instance at work we use OSPF so I had a good basic understanding of the protocol but I had no experience with BGP, EIGRP or IS-IS. I felt this book brought me up to speed on those topics better than the Certification Guide. It tried to recreate the class scenario in written form and does a good job of doing that with diagrams that would normally be seen in class. There are no pre-chapter questions and the end of chapter questions are open ended. My book did not come with a CD.

CCNP Building Scalabe Internetworks
(BSCI 642-901)
Lab Portfolio by Kotfile, Moorhouse and Wolfson
My thoughts: I am torn. I would not recommend this book if you have a good set of labs already or are extremely familiar with GNS3. Nearly half of the book is taken up with ping output to prove connectivity. I don’t need that in a book, I can see full reachability on my own lab equipment.

I also don’t like the set up of the lab book. Rather than give you a scenario and an assignment, then give the answer separately, the labs are step-by-step. So you cannot fumble around if you follow the the book. I would prefer a diagram with the assignment. Let me turn the page to see the answer or the step-by-step how to complete the lab.

I did at least a couple of labs from each section until I felt comfortable designing my own labs in GNS3. At that point I only looked at this book if I was stuck somewhere.